Value-driven partner search for <i>Energy from Waste</i> projects

Energy from Waste (EfW) projects require complex value chains to operate effectively. To identify business partners, plant operators need to network with organisations whose strategic objectives are aligned with their own. Supplier organisations need to work out where they fit in the value chain. Our aim is to support people in identifying potential business partners, based on their organisation’s interpretation of value. Value for an organisation should reflect its strategy and may be interpreted using key priorities and KPIs (key performance indicators). KPIs may comprise any or all of knowledge, operational, economic, social and convenience indicators. This paper presents an ontology for modelling and prioritising connections within the business environment, and in the process provides means for defining value and mapping these to corresponding KPIs. The ontology is used to guide the design of a visual representation of the environment to aid partner search

Accounting for users: design team work in immersive virtual reality environments

The study examines how designers account for the use and users of their design in the situation of reviewing the design in an Immersive Virtual Reality Environment (IVRE). The focus is on the interactions whereby designers express the imagined perspective of being users, and on how the design meeting is configured with respect to the concern around the use of the future building by the real users. Observations are made around how designers express these ‘narratives’ around experiencing a design as imaginary users through various modes (verbal, graphical, behavioural) involving different procedures and forms of representation. The case study is an on-going construction project for a new hospital in the UK, where an IVRE was used performing design review sessions during the bid preparation stage. Drawing on data based on direct observation and audio-video recordings of multiple design meetings, the scrutiny is on how architects adopt the position of end- users in design sessions in which users do not participate. The aim is to examine the nature and dynamics of interactions inside a design team as they imagine users’ needs in an IVRE. The focus is on how architects express and test the ‘usage’ of their design in this particular technological setting, where life- like movements and physical interactions with the design are possible

Reflections on a 'virtual' practice development unit: changing practice through identity development

Aims. This paper draws together the personal thoughts and critical reflections of key people involved in the establishment of a ‘virtual’ practice development unit of clinical nurse specialists in the south of England. Background. This practice development unit is ‘virtual’ in that it is not constrained by physical or specialty boundaries. It became the first group of Trust-wide clinical nurse specialists to be accredited in the UK as a practice development unit in 2004. Design and methods. The local university was asked to facilitate the accreditation process via 11 two-hour audio-recorded learning sessions. Critical reflections from practice development unit members, leaders and university staff were written 12 months after successful accreditation, and the framework of their content analysed. Findings and discussion. Practice development was seen as a way for the clinical nurse specialists to realize their potential for improving patient care by transforming care practice in a collaborative, interprofessional and evolutionary manner. The practice development unit provided a means for these nurses to analyse their role and function within the Trust. Roberts’ identity development model for nursing serves as a useful theoretical underpinning for the reflections contained in this paper. Conclusions. These narratives provide another example of nurses making the effort to shape and contribute to patient care through organizational redesign. This group of nurses began to realize that the structure of the practice development unit process provided them with the means to analyse their role and function within the organization and, as they reflected on this structure, their behaviour began to change. Relevance to clinical practice. Evidence from these reflections supports the view that practice development unit participants have secured a positive and professional identity and are, therefore, better able to improve the patient experience